DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-5, 10, 11, 19-24, 33 and 35-37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Qian et al (CN 114992865). Qian et al discloses a gas water heater and control method, characterized in that, the gas water heating device (SEE [0059]) includes a burning device (100) which includes at least two groups of burners (200) (SEE [0061]); the control method of the gas water heating device comprises: determining whether currently required load is within a common load range obtained in advance or not in the case that a first preset condition is met; if it is so, controlling a burner or burner combination (via a control device, SEE Figure 13) corresponding to a common segment to conduct burning; the power range corresponding to the common segment comprises the common load range (SEE [0017]-[0032]). In re claim 2, Qian et al discloses that the first preset condition includes that a water use signal from a user is received (an input device such as a touch display control or microphone, SEE [0012] & [0078]). In re claim 3, Qian et al further implicitly discloses determining whether currently required load is within a common load range obtained in advance or not comprises: obtaining a common load range corresponding to the gas water heating device; determining whether currently required load is within the common load range or not in the case that the common load range corresponding to the gas water heating device is obtained (SEE [0179]). In re claim 4, Qian et al further implicitly discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device further comprises: controlling the burning device to conduct burning in a preset segmented mode in the case that the common load range corresponding to the gas water heating device is not obtained (SEE [0037]). In re claim 5, Qian et al further implicitly discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device is further capable of recording user’s water use data of the gas water heating device in a preset period in the case that the common load range corresponding to the gas water heating device is not obtained; determining the common load range based on the user’s water use data in the preset period (SEE [0144]). In re claim 10, Qian et al implicitly discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device further comprises: recording, the user’s water use data of the gas water heating device in a preset period, once every preset time period to update the common load range (SEE [0144]). In re claim 11, Qian et al discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device further includes recording the user’s water use data of the gas water heating device in the preset period starting from a current moment in the case that a second preset condition is met, to update the common load range (SEE [0085]). In re claim 19, Qian et al discloses that, the control method of the gas water heating device further comprises: controlling the burning device to conduct burning in a preset segmented mode in the case that it is determined that the currently required load is not within the common load range obtained in advance (SEE [0071]-[0072]). In re claim 20, Qian et al further implicitly discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device further comprises: when controlling the burning device to conduct burning in a preset segmented mode, determining whether currently required load is within the common load range or not in the case that a fourth preset condition is met; controlling the burning device to switch to the burner or burner combination corresponding to the common segment to conduct burning in the case that it is determined that the currently required load is within the common load range (SEE [0062]). In re claim 21, Qian et al implicitly discloses that the fourth preset condition includes at least one of the following: incoming water flow volume or outgoing water flow volume changes beyond a first preset flow volume range; a temperature difference changes beyond a second preset temperature difference range; the temperature difference is a difference between the set temperature and incoming water temperature (SEE [0079]-[0080]). In re claim 22, Qian et al discloses that the control method of the gas water heating device further comprises: when controlling a burner or burner combination corresponding to a common segment to conduct burning, determining whether currently required load is within the common load range or not in the case that a fifth preset condition is met; controlling an opening degree of a gas proportional valve of the gas water heating device based on the currently required load in the case that it is determined that the currently required load is within the common load range (SEE [0065]). In re claim 23, Qian et al discloses that, the control method of the gas water heating device further includes controlling the burning device to switch to conduct burning in a preset segmented mode in the case that it is determined that the currently required load is not within the common load range (SEE [0071]-[0072]). In re claim 24, Qian et al further discloses that the fifth preset condition includes at least one of the following: incoming water flow volume or outgoing water flow volume changes beyond a second preset flow volume range; a temperature difference changes beyond a third preset temperature difference range; the temperature difference is a difference between the set temperature and incoming water temperature (SEE [0079]-[0080]). In re claim 33, Qian et al discloses a control method of a gas water heating device (SEE [0059]), characterized in that, the gas water heating device comprises a burning device (100) which includes at least two groups of burners (200) (SEE [0061]); the control method of the gas water heating device comprises: obtaining user’s water use data of the gas water heating device in a preset period; determining a target segmented mode corresponding to the gas water heating device based on the user’s water use data in the preset period, to control burning based on the target segmented mode; the target segmented mode includes a common segment; the power range corresponding to the common segment comprises a common load range (SEE [0085] & [0144]). In re claim 35, Qian et al further implicitly discloses that, determining a target segmented mode corresponding to the gas water heating device based on the user’s water use data in the preset period comprises: obtaining at least one preset segmented mode; determining the common load range based on the user’s water use data in the preset period; determining the target segmented mode from the at least one preset segmented mode according to the user’s water use data in the preset period (SEE [0085] & [0144]). In re claim 36, Qian et al implicitly discloses that controlling burning based on the target segmented mode comprises: determining whether currently required load is within the common load range or not in the case that a first preset condition is met; if it is so, controlling a burner or burner combination corresponding to a common segment to conduct burning (SEE [0062]). In re claim 37, Qian et al discloses a gas water heating device (SEE [0059]), characterized in that, the gas water heating device comprises a burning device (100) and a controller (a control device, Figure 13), and the burning device includes at least two groups of burners (200); the controller is used for: determining whether currently required load is within a common load range obtained in advance or not in the case that a first preset condition is met; if it is so, controlling a burner or burner combination corresponding to a common segment to conduct burning; the power range corresponding to the common segment comprises the common load range (SEE [0070]-[0071] & [0081]-[0082]).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6-9, 12-18, 25-32 and 34 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Jia (CN201173591), Du et al (CN111595030) and Wolter et al (5,322,216) also teach gas water heaters having a plurality of burner groups which can be controlled based on the required heat demand.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GREGORY A WILSON whose telephone number is (571)272-4882. The examiner can normally be reached M-F; 7:00am-4:30pm.
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/GREGORY A WILSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3762 June 24, 2026
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